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- Jan 28, 2003
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I have shot a good number of the medium .400 bore rifles. I've spent time with a .416 Rigby, a .416 Remington, the .450-400 NE and have played with a .416 Ruger. I've spent a good amount of time behind a .404 Jeffery and currently own one. I have not played with any of the more rare ones like .425 WR or a palethora of other oddities in the .400 bore range that appeared and disappeared during the height of the African and Indian big game hunting days.
It always amazes me which calibers stay popular and which disappear into obscurity. If you'd ask most people which was the most famous of the .400's most would say the .416 Rigby. Which is absolutely incorrect. Their were only about 100 original rifles chambered in .416 Rigby. It became famous primarily due to Robert Ruark and his writings about Selby who was an ardent .416 Rigby fan. The .416 Rigby disappeared for a long time before being brought back to life in the last 30 years. It's a great round but requires a special large size magnum action to accomidate it.
Without a doubt the king of the .400 bore rifles is the .404 Jeffery. There were thousands of .404 Jeffry rifles produced and it was the primary game control and cropping rifle issued to most park rangers and culling units for multiple decades. With a 400 gr solid bullet it can be counted on to reliably penetrate an elephant skull from any angle and has enough thump to knock the biggest game down, breaking the largest bones reliably. It does all that with moderate recoil, out of a standard Mauser size action which holds four rounds down and one up the pipe. Original .404 ballistics are a 400 gr bullet at 2150 FPS.
In a modern rifle with modern powders it is very easy to get a 400 gr bullet at 2400 FPS out of the .404 Jeffery. Easily matching the original .416 Rigby ballistics. You can get a 347 gr round moving at 2500 FPS if you wish.
Some interesting notes about the .404 Jeffery. The early rifles had a bore diameter of .419, .411, or .423 depending on who manufactured the rifle. Modern ..404s are all .423 diameter. If you find a clean older .404 that is for sale at a very reasonable price beware, it's almost certainly one of the odd bore diameters.
The .404 was named the .404 not for its bore diameter BTW. It was a marketing ploy, advertising that it was a .400 bore rifle that held 4 bullets. Which was a huge selling point back at the turn of the century when the round was developed and most rifles capable of hunting big game were still single shot or a double rifle.
The .404 in its heyday was the primary working mans African and Indian big game round. When the English empire desolved, the .404 slipped into obscurity. Primarily due to the lack of available ammo. It has never made a serious comeback, which is a shame. The round is standard length, it fits in a standard action, it hits with serious authority, its versatile and it's very mild to shoot when compared to the other big bore DG calibers. After having shot the various modern .416 rounds I can see no reason for them to exist when the .404 was already here and a proven big game round for over a century. My .400 bore bolt gun is a .404 Jeffery and I wouldn't change that for any reason!
It always amazes me which calibers stay popular and which disappear into obscurity. If you'd ask most people which was the most famous of the .400's most would say the .416 Rigby. Which is absolutely incorrect. Their were only about 100 original rifles chambered in .416 Rigby. It became famous primarily due to Robert Ruark and his writings about Selby who was an ardent .416 Rigby fan. The .416 Rigby disappeared for a long time before being brought back to life in the last 30 years. It's a great round but requires a special large size magnum action to accomidate it.
Without a doubt the king of the .400 bore rifles is the .404 Jeffery. There were thousands of .404 Jeffry rifles produced and it was the primary game control and cropping rifle issued to most park rangers and culling units for multiple decades. With a 400 gr solid bullet it can be counted on to reliably penetrate an elephant skull from any angle and has enough thump to knock the biggest game down, breaking the largest bones reliably. It does all that with moderate recoil, out of a standard Mauser size action which holds four rounds down and one up the pipe. Original .404 ballistics are a 400 gr bullet at 2150 FPS.
In a modern rifle with modern powders it is very easy to get a 400 gr bullet at 2400 FPS out of the .404 Jeffery. Easily matching the original .416 Rigby ballistics. You can get a 347 gr round moving at 2500 FPS if you wish.
Some interesting notes about the .404 Jeffery. The early rifles had a bore diameter of .419, .411, or .423 depending on who manufactured the rifle. Modern ..404s are all .423 diameter. If you find a clean older .404 that is for sale at a very reasonable price beware, it's almost certainly one of the odd bore diameters.
The .404 was named the .404 not for its bore diameter BTW. It was a marketing ploy, advertising that it was a .400 bore rifle that held 4 bullets. Which was a huge selling point back at the turn of the century when the round was developed and most rifles capable of hunting big game were still single shot or a double rifle.
The .404 in its heyday was the primary working mans African and Indian big game round. When the English empire desolved, the .404 slipped into obscurity. Primarily due to the lack of available ammo. It has never made a serious comeback, which is a shame. The round is standard length, it fits in a standard action, it hits with serious authority, its versatile and it's very mild to shoot when compared to the other big bore DG calibers. After having shot the various modern .416 rounds I can see no reason for them to exist when the .404 was already here and a proven big game round for over a century. My .400 bore bolt gun is a .404 Jeffery and I wouldn't change that for any reason!
